Estimation of soil-water characteristics using liquid limit state

In unsaturated soils, the matric suction due to capillarity creates an additional interparticle force in the soil system, generally resulting in an increase of strength and stiffness (Fredlund & Rahardjo, 1993; Cho & Santamarina, 2001). The variation of matric suction in a soil specimen can be expressed in terms of water content (or degree of saturation). This relationship is known as a soil-water characteristic curve (or a soil-water retention curve). This curve is a fundamental soil property used to investigate the behaviour of unsaturated soils such as pore size distribution (e.g. Simms & Yanful, 2002), permeability...